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Today also happens to be TransGriot blogiversary in which on this date six years ago my first post went up on my then fledgling blog.

Six years later I have over 3.2 million hits and counting on this blog, over 5000 posts, a worldwide following, multiple nominations and awards for what I write here and the love, respect and admiration of my blogging peers and people inside and outside the trans community.

But without you loyal readers stopping by on a regular basis, spending your valuable web surfing time reading the posts I compile here and recommending them to your friends and associates, I wouldn't have achieved it as quickly as I have.

Yes, I have mad writing skills and talent. A lot of hard work has gone into building this blog and is a major part of my formula for success here, but you readers are the most important piece of it.

You can bet that I'll have a lot to say about what's going on in 2012 inside and outside the trans community here in the States and around the world.

Will I write more than 1563 posts like I did last year? Well, considering it's a critical election year in the United States and the Summer Olympics are just two of the major events happening in 2012, maybe.

My fave NFL franchise has had a week in which they are dealing with the fallout from the upset loss to the Colts and being snubbed for selections to the Pro Bowl despite a signature season for the Texans.

Well, Arian Foster and Jonathan Joseph made it. Nine other Texans are AFC alternates. And no Duane Brown from an offensive line that has possibly two 1000 yard rushers?

JJ Watt? Connor Barwin? Antonio Smith? Brian Cushing?

They have the Tennessee Titans Traitors coming to town seeking revenge for the 41-7 butt kicking they took in Nashville and desperate for a win to keep their slim playoff hopes alive.

The Texans are pissed about the Pro Bowl slight and perceived disrespect so this should be a good game at Reliant tomorrow afternoon.

My fave NFL footballers have a chance to take out their frustration on one of the teams they hate in the AFC South, sweep the Traitors and knock them out of the playoff chase at the same time while making it up to the fanbase for the crap they have had to hear from the Harris County Arlington Cowchip fans.

We'll have both defensive coordinator Wade Phillips and wide receiver Andre Johnson back for this game and hopefully Texans coach Gary Kubiak will open up the offense and let TJ Yates throw the ball down the field in this game since the playoffs start next week.

TransGriot Note: On each night of the Kwanzaa celebration, just as I did last year, I'm going to write about each one of those principles and explain how it applies to the chocolate trans community and our cis African descended brothers and sisters.

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Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Haban gari What's The News?

It's time to light the sixth candle on the Kinara and ponder the sixth principle of the seven celebrated during Kwanzaa.

When I wrote about this principle last year it was more in terms of what I had done as an individual to live up to the kuumba principle. This year I'm focusing more on what the African descended trans community does and can do collectively to live up to this principle.

So let's repeat the question. What can we do as a community to leave it more beneficial and beautiful than when we inherited it?

First of all, the word beautiful just doesn't apply to art works or the physical features of other human beings.. It also means of a very high or excellent standard.

So what can we do to strive for and achieve that excellence?

We can start by doing what we can where we are at that given moment to uplift the African American trans community. It can be as small as organizing a once a month gathering of friends. Resolving to get to know five African American transpeople you don't know and promising to yourself by the end of the year you'll form solid friendships with them.

It can be you going back to school to further your education or encouraging someone else to do so. It can mean that you strive to take better care of yourself and the people around you. It can mean you become more involved not only with our community but step up to a leadership position and become a more vocal advocate in the communities we intersect with.

Collectively, fulfilling the kuumba principle can mean we trans African Americans do a better job of working together to formulate policy that benefits all of us. It means we redouble of efforts to achieve the social and political goals of our community. It means we work harder to make and keep those connections between us strong. It mean we strive to be finer specimens of humanity with each other and everyone else we come in contact with inside and outside our community. It means we strive to build community with our African American cis brothers and sisters and our cousins across the Diaspora.

It also means we never stop trying to reach for and achieve excellence. Remember, we have young African American transkids not only watching us, but counting on us to do what we need to do in a morally upright and ethical manner to leave the world better, more beautiful and more beneficial for all of us that it was when we first encountered it.

We must strive to leave it in the best possible condition for those transkids so that when they reach adulthood and it is time for us to rest after laboring to build that better world for them, they can use the kuumba principle and the examples of our ancestors as a roadmap to build upon our work.

It's the day you all have been waiting for. Every week I sort though the ignorance and stupidity among us to select a TransGriot Shut Up Fool of the week But there are just some people or groups of people who just continue to take ignorance and stupidity to new and mind numbing levels.

These were the deserving nominees for the 2011 TransGriot Shut Up Fool! of the Year Award. Megathanks for your help with the nominations TransGriot readers. These folks will also go into consideration for the 2012 Shut Up Fool! Lifetime Achievement Award which will be revealed on Oscars weekend.

I know you peeps are anxious on both sides of the International Date Line to find out who won, so let's get this started shall we?

Time to cut the jibber-jabber and announce our winner (Moni cracks knuckles and opens envelope).

The 2011 Shut Up Fool of the Year is Herman Cain

Cain richly deserved this award after cooning it up during his run for the GOP nomination. While doing a speech in which he excoriated people to reread the Constitution, he mistakenly claimed that the phrase 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' was in it.

He claimed Black people were 'brainwashed' against conservatives, told the OWS protestors to 'blame themselves' if they didn't have a job and weren't successful, and said he wouldn't have a Muslim in his cabinet.

After he surged to the lead of the GOP presidential contenders and news surfaced he been accused of sexual harassment, said it was 'a lie and dirty politics' as the number of women making the same claims rose and knowledge of a 13 year affair with Ginger White became public. .

He also displayed his grasp of issues during a bungled interview he didn't need to know who the president of Ubi-Becky-bekistan is (FYI the president of Uzbekistan is Islam Karimov), said in an interview with Barbara Walters not long after he suspended his cratering campaign he wants to be considered for Secretary of Defense, a cabinet position in which having a grasp of geography, world history and the current politics in various nations is essential.

For doing his best Uncle Ruckus impersonation while running for the GOP nomination for president, Herman Cain gets the 2011 Shut Up Fool! of the Year Award.